Reply to Could 13 yo DD just be discovering she is trans?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Most kids as they enter the puberty years are confused about a lot of things.  Their body changes, and sexuality are among those things.  We all went through that.

What's sad is the added pressure of the groups pressuring kids to figure out their gender identity and sexual orientation at that age.  They are just confusing kids more than they already are.  Just let the kids pause, and give themselves time to figure things out before declaring anything yet, they are still working it out.

Studies show that most kids with true gender dysphoria don't become transgender adults, if left alone their gender dysphoria goes away by late adolescence to early adulthood.  If you think about it, that makes sense.  Puberty is a confusing time, and it takes time to adjust to their sexuality and relationships.

As a parent, I think the best advice is what parents did when I was a kid.  They weren't allowed to date, etc until 15, 16.  It gives the child time to work through the awkward years.

Even though transgender kids are better off the earlier they are on hormones, how do you know your child is going to go on and become a transgender adult?  Persistence is not very predictable.  And hormones, as a side effect, permanently sterilize a person.  It's irreversible.  I would be VERY cautious before allowing a child to start something that has permanent effects.  Do they really know at that age that they will never want kids?[/quote]

This post makes very good points. Unfortunately the gender-affirming approach to therapy is increasingly the only acceptable method (if the kid says they're trans, they are- any exploration of other things that may be contributing to their feelings is off limits). This is saddening, to understate it, because many children who would have gone on to be comfortable with their sex are now being but on a combination of medicines that will lead to lifelong sterility. When you add to the fact that many of the kids who would have historically desisted would turn out to be gay or lesbian, you have concerns about medical transition being "gay conversion therapy."

There's a documentary by the BBC called "Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best?" that goes into great detail about all aspects of transgender identity in kids. Both sides of the debate are presented- those wholly in favor of childhood transition and those who advocate a cautious approach to childhood gender identity issues. Among the featured subjects is a psychologist who lost his job because he didn't jump immediately to transition with his child patients. Also featured are kids who identify/identified as transgender- those who've desisted and those who still identify as such.

It was scheduled to air in the US as well, but trans activists were upset that the cautious approach got airtime, and so after many complaints it was pulled until an undecided date. It can be viewed here, though: https://archive.org/details/BBC-trans-kids[/quote]

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